NEW YORK — Henrik Lundqvist doesn’t know why he keeps having success against the Carolina Hurricanes.
Mika Zibanejad had two goals and an assist, Lundqvist stopped 39 shots, and the New York Rangers beat the Hurricanes 5-3 on Friday night.
Lundqvist improved to 3-0-0 against Carolina this season while stopping 125 of 132 shots in the wins. For his career, the veteran goalie is 33-12-1 against the Hurricanes.
“I think it’s more as a team we seem to match up,” he said. “They have good speed, but for whatever reason we find ways to win. I know we have teams where it’s the other way around. I don’t really have an explanation for it.”
Artemi Panarin had a goal and two assists, Chris Kreider had a goal and an assist, and Ryan Strome also scored to help New York get its second win in six games (2-3-1). Tony DeAngelo and Jacob Trouba each had two assists.
Lucas Wallmark had a goal and an assist, Brett Pesce and Sebastian Aho also scored, and Teuvo Terravainen had two assists for the Hurricanes. James Reimer finished with 19 saves for Carolina, which has lost three straight after a 6-0-1 stretch.
“We weren’t able to capitalize on the power play and they got two on theirs,” Hurricanes coach Rod Brind’Amour said after his team went 0 for 5 with the man advantage. “That was the difference of the game. That’s hockey. We have to bounce back. It’s a tough pill to swallow because we played a pretty good game.”
Aho pulled the Hurricanes to 4-3 as he scored from the left side for his 22nd at 1:40 of the third.
Strome then restored New York’s two-goal lead with 6:11 left, converting Panarin’s centering pass from the left corner for his eighth.
“We’ve been victims of letting leads slip away, or tie games,” Strome said. “So it was good to find a way to get the two points. … That’s a good hockey team over there. We knew they were going to bring everything in the third and we found a way to get it done.”
After falling behind early, the Rangers tied the score late in the first period and then had the first three goals in the second. That stretch included a tying goal by Carolina that was negated before the Rangers scored two more to go up 4-1.
“There were some crucial moments where we scored some big goals,” Lundqvist said. “Obviously their tying goal we turn back and then we score (to go up) 3-1 instead. That’s pretty big for our confidence.”
Kreider put the Rangers ahead 2-1 just 1:27 into the second period. Zibanejad brought the puck up the right side on a rush, faked a shot to draw Reimer to his side, and then passed across to Kreider on the left side and he fired it into the open side of the goal before the goalie could slide over. It was Kreider’s 11th.
With the Hurricanes on extended power-play time after a pair of overlapping penalties, Aho appeared to tie the score about four minutes later but the Rangers challenged for offside on the play and the goal was disallowed after a review.
“You can only fend them off for so long,” New York coach David Quinn said of the Hurricanes. “I thought it gave us a little bit of a breather because it took a little bit (of time) to get reversed. We collected ourselves a little bit. … Really a big, big momentum change in the game.”
New York then scored to take a two-goal lead at 7:29 as Panarin found the loose puck after Filip Chytil’s pass from the right side in front rebounded through traffic to the left side and he put it in top shelf for his 21st.
Zibanejad got his second of the game — both on power plays — to give the Rangers a 4-1 lead as DeAngelo’s shot from the right side was deflected into the air. It landed in front and Zibanejad quickly put it past Reimer for his 14th.
Pesce scored on a 2-on-1 rush, beating Lundqvist from the right side for his fourth with 2:49 left in the second.
The Hurricanes got on the scoreboard first as Wallmark fired a one-timer from the left circle off a pass by Teravainen at 5:15 of the opening period.
Zibanejad tied the score with 3:29 left in the first as he got a pass from Kreider from behind the net and quickly fired it into the top right corner from the right side in front. It was the Rangers’ first power-play goal in five games.
“We’ve been having some pretty good looks on the power play, but haven’t been able to convert,” Zibanejad said. “Today, we got two, so hopefully that will get us going now.”
NOTES: Strome appeared in his 100th game with the Rangers since he was acquired from Edmonton on Nov. 16, 2018. … D Marc Staal appeared in his 861st game, tying Jean Ratelle for sixth place on the Rangers’ franchise list for non-goalies. … New York improved to 12-0-2 when leading after two periods. … Quinn said F Brendan Lemieux broke his hand during the game and will be out indefinitely. … C Jordan Staal appeared in his 500th game with the Hurricanes, and the 931st for his career. … Wallmark extended his point streak to five games with three goals and four assists in the stretch. … Terravainen has at least one assist in six straight games. … The Hurricanes lost for just the third time in 19 games when scoring first this season.
Up Next
Hurricanes: Host Washington on Saturday night to open a seven-game homestand.
Rangers: At Toronto on Saturday night to open a stretch of four straight road games in Canada.
